Bowling-alley.



P. S. KNAPP.

BOWLING ALLEY.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12, 1912.

Patented May 20, 1913.

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P. S. KNAPP.

BOWLING ALLEY.

APPLIGATION FILED use. 12, 1912. 1,062, 1 62, Patented May 20, 1913. I 2SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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. BOWLING-ALLEY.

Specification of Letters iatent.

Patented May 20, 1913.

'Applica'tionflled December 12,1912. Serial No.736,342.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, PAUL S. KNAPI, a

citizen of the United States, residin at- Akron,'in the county of Summitand tate of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBowling-Alleys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates, in general, to games of amusement and athleticexercise, and more particularly to bowling alleys. Its object is toprovide a substitute for the common tenpins,having some likecharacteristics, but obviating the necessity of an attendant to set uppins and return balls, and oflt'ering means for playing a variety ofgames with the bowling balls.

To this end, my invention consists in the. construction and combinationof parts forming a bowling alley hereinafter more fully described andparticularly stated in the claims, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure I represents, partly in transverse vertical section, the foot of'the bowling alley and showing in front view' the hanging targets,according to my invention. .F1g. II shows a longitudinal verticalsection at line a; of Fig. I. Fig. III is a face view of a portion ofthe elevator chains, showing the opposite slant of different scoops.Flg. IV is a side View, partly in vertical section, of the ballelevator. Fig. V is a plan view, partly in horizontal section along theirregular line 3 of Fig. I, of the foot end of my bowling alley.- Fig.VI is a plan view at the head end of the alley, showing the ballelevator and accessories.

Numeral 7 represents the bowling bed of the alley, constructed in anyusual manner, on supporting joist 8. Under these I locate a passagehaving a floor 9, which slants from the pit 10 at the foot of the alleyto the head end of the alley, and converging sides 11. The bottom 12 ofthe pit slants steeply forward to the floor 9. Sprocket wheels 13 aremounted on shafts 14, one of which is provided with a belt pulley 15 anda crank 16. The shafts are journaled in stationary bearings. Scoops 17,preferably trough-shaped, are mounted on chains 18 that are carried bythe sprocket wheels 13 to travel up in the chute 19, forming an elevatorthat returns down at the opposite side. The assage 9-11 leads into thechute 19, an troughs 20 are located at the sides of the chute near itstop. In any suitable supports, such as the posts 21, I secure a shaft 22and on it suspend a series of tar- I ets 23 to swing freely in line ofthe alley.

n the face of each target may be painted, or otherwise shown, abulls-eye 24. Each target has a broad hub 25 which is centrally slottedacross the line of the shaft to receive a thin tongue 26 which hangsvertically in front of the target and bulls-eye, with its lower endagainst the rear end of the bed 7. A thin bar 27 extends across thewidth of the bed in the path of the tongues when swung back, and isattached to some fixed sup ort 28. This bar is of suitable material tormg as a bell when struck by any one of the tongues 26, but the targets23 are short enough to swing back past the bell without hitting it. Thecentral tongue 26, position 1, is provided with two lateral wings 29which extend in front of the adjacent tongues 2. These tongues 2 haveeach one tongue extending in front of the next tongue 3, away from thecentral one, and so on to the outside tongues 4, which have no wings. IA returning catch 31 is hung on a pivot 32 and is provided with a string33 which extends forward to some place convenient to the operator. Abufier 34 stops the balls, and, falling upon the steeply inclined floor12 of the pit, they are sent forward with a considerable velocity intothe passage 9-11 and roll quickly to the chute 19, where the chains 18and scoops 17 raise them to the level of the troughs 20. The scoops 17are alternately mounted on the chains 18, slanting one to the right andthe next to the left so as to deliver balls in both troughs 20. Theelevator may be op- .erated with a belt on its wheel 15 by any suitablepower, or it'may be turned by the hand crank 16.

In operation, if a ball rolled along the bed strikes centrally any oneof the ton es, that tongue will be driven to swing ack-and strike thebell 27. If a ball passes between.

the tongues and hits one or more targets they will be swung back, butwill not ring the bell. If a ball strikes so far to one side of itscenter on a tongue as to glance off it will swing that tongue ,sidewiseand not carry it back far enough to ring the bell. It is possible that aglancing hit on the side of a tongue may disengage its wing from thenext tongue. In that event gravity will not restore the tongues to theirnormal posit-ions, but a pull upon the string 33 will raise thereturning catch 31 and crowd them home, each wing 29 having an inclinedor wedging end 30 for that purpose. The side troughs 35 are to carrystray balls to the pit 10. If the central tongue, position 1, be fairlyhit it will carry with itthe twos and they will carry the threes andthey the, fours, making a general crash of sounds 011 the bell. It isnot practicable to prevent the tongue bodies from twisting a littlewhenthe side,ar1n resists the sudden thrust of a ball, and that causes avery agreeable rotation in the bell strokes whereby they can usually becounted. Of course, there might be a differently sounding bell for eachtongue to hit in the place of the one long bell bar 27. The naturalobject would be to hit fairly the central tongue and make them all ring,but the variety of efl'ects that may be produced by different hitssuggests that rules may be agreedupon to play many different games onthis bowling alley, and great skill would be required to hit any statedtongue so squarely as to make it ring.

Part of the advantages of this invention would be secured by the hangingtargets and tongues without the aid of the lateral wings on the tongues,but I prefer to apply them as giving greater variety of results inbowlmg.

I claim: 1 In a' bowling alley, a bowling bed; a series of targetssuspended over the foot of the bed; a tongue suspended to hang in frontof each target; a bell located in the path of the tongue, and wingsprojecting laterally from the tongues to engage adtongue; wingsprojecting laterally from the tongues and having slantingends forengagement with adjacent tongues in their re-' turn movement.

.3. In a bowling alley, a bowling bed; a series of targets suspendedover the bed; a tongue suspended in front of each target and narrowerthan the target, and a bellfixed in the path of the tongue.

4. In a bowling alley, a bowling bed; targets suspended over the bed,and a tongue narrower than each target. hung in front thereof,substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PAUL S. KNAPP. Witnesses: I

ERVIN D. FRITCH, H. N. SHIVELY.

